Pre Work Out Blues (Open)

The trouble with coping habits was that they were so very rarely good for you, emotionally or physically.  Maybe some people, when upset, went off to run laps or lift weights.  UFue was not one of those lucky people.  When Fue was upset, Fue ate.  Perhaps that might not have been so bad if she was less frequently upset, perhaps it would not be so bad if she ate healthily all other times.  But, in the end, the truth was that Fue liked food.  She liked taking pictures of it, she liked messing around with it, and that almost always culminated in her eating it.  Not the whole thing every time, but enough times.  So a good day at school usually involved eating, a productive day meant eating a lot, a bad day made her want to eat.  All these factors combined were doing nothing for her physical fitness. 

At the weigh in, she'd received the not so good news.  She'd gained in all the wrong areas.  But she'd know that even as she forced herself to live in denial.  Her skirts were tightening up and her blouses were tightening up way too low.  It'd be different if she had grown some up top but that seemed to be an unfulfilled dream as the tape had barely epanded a millimeter.  She'd spent the rest of the afternoon cursing her body for its betrayal.  She would go on a diet, a resolution that would not last very long, and then she would exercise every morning, a resolution that wouldn't even last as long as the first. 

It was early yet for both resolutions. Fue was still very confident in her ability to do both.  Part of that confidence came from the fact that she had started neither.  It was the first work out of the new resolutions.  Though not of the first workout of the year, it wasn't even the first time she'd made that resolution this year.  But this time would be different for some nebulous reason that Fue would be unable to explain if you asked her, but she would say it with conviction anyway.  She was going to burn off the pounds if it killed her.

It wasn't long until she was lying on the grass next to the track panting and guzzling down water.  Her track suit was soaked in sweat in all the most unflattering places and she was finally starting to remember all the reasons she had quit before.  This was sufering.  She'd only done a couple laps, and that was at a jog, she hadn't even started running yet.  More proof of how out of shape she was bounced in her head.  It was super discouraging.  Fue sipped the water from her bottle and thought.  Maybe if she ran harder, she could get away with doing it for less time.  But she didn't want to run harder either.  It was like being forced to choose between two awful things.  Of course there was the third choice, giving up and buying a wider skirt, but Fue was not going to give up that easy, oh no. She was going to stand up and kick the school track's ass.  As soon as she was done resting and would be ready to run again, of course.

After arriving at the school, her and her Aunt were led to the First Year's dormitory. Unfortunately, due to a mix up, it seems that a room has yet to be assigned to her. She'd been allowed to store the few possessions she'd brought with her in a small side room while her Aunt and the Dorm Mother tries to figure out what happened.

Moriko stands waiting for a little while, but she starts to get restless. First the long flight the day before, and then the long car ride to the school, had her sitting down in a single place for far longer than she'd normally stand. She starts fidgeting and glancing around the tiny room, her eyes inexorably drawn to the windows and the few bushes and trees she can see outside.

Her Aunt notices her movements and turns to her. 「All right Moriko. Why don't you go outside and explore the school grounds a bit while we figure this out. I'll call you on the phone I gave you when we're done.」

Not needing to be told twice, Moriko bolts out the door before her Aunt can take back her words or add anything else. She can hear the door banging behind her, but she doesn't care. She needs to get out of there. She needs to MOVE.

Jogging at a steady clip, Moriko slips down a narrow way between two buildings. Glancing behind her, she sees that no one is following her. A sigh of relief escapes her lips. Good, she thinks.

Looking around her, she takes a left and then a right. Suddenly she breaks out of the small cluster of buildings and finds herself standing just inside a line of tall bushes. Coming to a stop she peers through a gap in them and stares at the open field on the other side. The early afternoon sun is out in full force. The few clouds that can be seen high in the sky are thin and wispy. There's barely a breeze, the soft rustle of the leaves of the bushes only easy to hear because she's close to them. It's definitely a hot day.

Off in the distance she can see some trees sitting near what looks like a paved flat circle. There's some sitting stands even farther away, the metal benches gleaming in the sun's light. Curious about what that paved surface could be, she decides to head on over to the trees.

So far, she hasn't come across any other students or teachers. It could be because it's still around lunch time, but still, she finds it odd. Maybe she's just been lucky? Pushing through the bushes, she shoves her hands into the pockets of her cargo shorts. Walking out into the the open, she glances all around, taking in the sights. Buildings behind her and to the right, open field to the front and what looks like some sheds to the left.

"This school is huge!", she mutters to herself as she approaches the trees she had marked as her destination. The sound of her sneakers rustling in the grass give her pause. The day is so nice, she just wants them gone! Coming to a decision, she move around one of the larger trees, intent on sitting beneath it to take off her shoes. But instead she freezes in place. Someone is already there!

There, beneath the tree, is another girl. She lays in the grass, a water bottle at her lips and drinking as if she were possessed. The heavy pants of her breath between each gulp, along with the sweat dripping from her rusty hairline, all seem to point to recent physical activity.

Blinking, Moriko has no idea how to respond. She opens her mouth, only to have a single, soft sound come out. "Ah..."

Two and a half laps around the track, what was this fresh hell? The school must have lengthened it to about four miles, there was no way she could be this out of shape. Whatever, running was probably a scam. Maybe if she had to walk other places like back home instead of hanging around on campus all the time, that was the trouble. She didn't walk around as much as she did before coming to this school. She went limp and let her arms fall away flat on the ground. She took a deep breath and blew it out slowly through her lips.

She wondered what her parents were thinking right now, she hadn't gotten a response when she sent the morning's photo. Time zones were a real pain sometimes but if she had to guess, they were probably just getting started on their work after lunch. She wouldn't mind never having to work until after noon. Especially after lunch. No, not lunch, don't think about food, she thought to herself. Food was what got her into this situation in the first place. She reached over to her bag and rolled onto her side as she unzipped the flap.

She pulled out her phone and checked the time. Two laps and she was tired, she hadn't even been out here an hour and most of that had been spent stalling with stretching and lying on the grass. A flash of silver caught her eye. It was a candy bar, supposedly high energy, supposedly good after a hard workout. Mostly it was just really sugary and that was what she liked. It was going to be a reward for her own hard workout but she kind of wanted to have it now and go home. The temptation was strong.

Whatever, she could just start the real diet tomorrow and maybe she could start going into the town more often. That could be fun as well. Maybe Fue would even find a hobby more laborious than taking a picture. Speaking of, she dug around in her bag and pulled out her back up camera. It wasn't nearly as good as the one she normally used but she didn't want to risk her good equipment out on the track. She opened it up and turned it on. Briefly, Fue turned her head up to the sky and then down to the camera as she fiddled with filters and exposure settings. It wasn't as if this was going to be in any album other than her records.

A small sound, unnatural, human came from one side and Fue's focus immediately broadened to the world outside herself. She sat up and looked to one side. There was a girl there, she wasn't in uniform which was not abnormal. A lot of students stripped into something else when they had a chance. But the way the girl was dressed reminded her of Mama when she was trying to look casual for trips back to her home or out in the countryside. Fue quickly turned her head down toward the camera, suddenly feeling very self conscious. She knew that what she did wasn't exactly normal, but it didn't really ellicit stares. It was just taking a picture. She glanced back over but the girl was still there so Fue turned her head away again. She had an audience now, she felt under pressure to perform. The casual picture wasn't going to work now. She had to be better than that.

The other girl rolls over and reaches into a bag that's next to her. Due the angle she's standing at, Moriko can't quite see what it is that she pulls out. The redhead glances up at the sky and back down to whatever it is she has, and starts fiddling with it. What's she got there?, she wonders. But her curiosity doesn't matter anyway, because that cursed sound escapes her.

The stranger girl sits up and turns her head in her direction. Their eyes meet briefly before the other girl quickly looks away. Only to glance back and look away again! Almost as if she was double checking to see if Moriko was really there or not. What?

Moriko's a bit dumbfounded. Most people would have at least said something, or made a sound, or done... something! At least, from her somewhat limited experience, that's how it should be. But for some reason, this girl not only doesn't make a sound, she doesn't even look at her.

Oh no... did I upset her? What do I do?

Unsure, she shifts uncomfortably in place. She dislikes being the cause of other people's distress. A small frown tilts her lips down, her brows bunched in a mixture of confusion and worry. Backing up a little, to she presses her hands against the tree. It's rough bark bites into her palms, familiar and oddly soothing. She turns her head away slightly, tilting it to a small degree downward towards the girl on the ground. In a bid to seem non-threatening, Moriko shifts her gaze to where she's looking at the girl from the side. Taking a deep breathe, she decides to speak.

Her voice comes out as a low, hesitant mutter expelled on her exhale.

"... Sorry..."

Fue wasn't sure what to do at this point. She didn't know this girl but the girl was an audience and Fue wanted her pictures to be seen so she was at a weird impasse. Then the girl watching her apologized. Fue turned to look at her. "It's ok." Don't apologize." There was nothing to apologize for, nobody had done anything. Fue looked down at her camera and tried to consider what to do next. She should probably say something to this girl. It was rude to stay silent. She looked back at the girl. "Do you- uh want to sit down?"

Fue reached down and picked up the energy bar. With practiced care, perhaps more care than she'd have normally shown, she pulled it open and then pulled it open, keeping one fingernail along the seam to keep a straight tear. To partly fill in the silence and maybe just to justify what she was doing, Fue said "I'm taking a picture." It was a dumb thing to say. She had the camera next to her on her lap after all.

Maybe it was the clothes, maybe it was just the audience, but Fue hadn't been this anctious in a long time and felt like she was explaining herself to her mothers' friends around the dinner table. "I take pictures of food." Another dumb thing to say. "For class and stuff." It wasn't much of a defense, she thought as she pulled out a small hand towel theoretically used to wipe sweat off. This one was clean though, she'd planned ahead. She carefully heaped it up on the ground and adjusted it to look artfully messy. Then, with just as much care, she placed the water bottle against it. That was a bit tricky because she didn't want to mess up the condensation too much. Fue then considered the energy bar for a few seconds. Would it look better whole or with the look of a bite already taken out of it? A difficult question to be sure.

Moriko blinks at the other girl's reassurance. Frown vanishing, she turns her eyes to look more directly at the stranger. Well, at least I didn't upset her. Relief flits through her, her whole posture relaxing from the slightly stiffened stance she'd unconsciously taken.

At the invitation to sit down, Moriko shrugs. Seems the other girl doesn't mind her presence there. Stepping carefully over the tree's roots, she plops down pretty close to her companion. Crossing her legs, she scoots forward a little. Leaning onto the palms of her hands, she peers over the other girl's shoulder at the camera she's holding. "A camera..." she murmurs softly, her eyes drifting to the other's face. She really can't tell what the other girl is feeling.

"Pictures of food?" she asks, her tone holding only curiosity. Then the other girl pulls out what looks like a candy bar. Attention instantly grabbed, Moriko watches as the packaging covering the food is torn. The slight breeze blows the smell of the bar right her way and she instantly picks up on it. The sweet, delectable scent. Instantly saliva builds in her mouth. It HAS been a while since she's last eaten...

She watches, a bit confusedly at first, at the other's movements. First of all, she's moving so very... slowly? It doesn't make sense to Moriko. If you're gonna eat something, why open it and then not just eat it? Head tilted slightly to the side, her eyes keep flicking between the opened food bar and the other's girl's movements. A crumpled towel and a beaded water bottle finally seems to have been adjusted just right. It almost seems like the other girl has forgotten her, for the moment.

Now her companion is contemplating the bar. She stares at it, as if she isn't sure what she wants to do with it. Well, Moriko knows exactly what she wants to do with it. Gaze once again glued to the bar, she licks her lips.

"So... you gonna eat that?"

"Mostly food." Fue replied. She kept her eyes on the bar. "Sometimes drinks too, mostly at meals." She looked at the package again, that was a pretty good photograph, probably had heated it up to get some of the trailing bits. She wasn't going to get that from a broken bar, especially not one just out of the box at random. Perhaps whole was the way to go. With just as much care as before, she folds the wrapper down and back up several times until it looks like the bar was pushed up out of it.

"It's my focus, food photography I mean." She said, hoping that would be a reasonable explanation. "Well, food stylist but I also take pictures of it. Mostly it's about advertising." She set the bar on the towel so it leaned up across the bottle. That looked a bit weird. She looked at the other girl who was staring intently at the set up. Suddenly, Fue felt even more self conscious than before. This girl was obviously judging the set up. Fue knew it wasn't right but she didn't know how to change it, how to make it better. It was like the portfolio debacle all over again.

Then the girl asked if she was going to eat it. Well obviously, that's why she was taking a picture of it, but then Fue remembered that this was not normal behavior. "Yeah, after I take a picture." She looked at the girl and then the look made sense in a different way. The girl wasn't evaluating her work, she was looking at the candy bar. That was...odd. Well, maybe breaking it was going to be the way to go. Fue reached out and picked up the candy bar and tore it in half. As expected, it did not leave a pretty, gooey stings of caramel, it just split. "Here, did you want a piece?" She offered out the piece not in the wrapper. She still needed the wrapper as a framing device.

Listening quietly to the other girl's explanation, Moriko nods. Okay, so she takes photos of food before meals. That is definitely different from her own experiences, but she doesn't view it as too odd. If it's a common practice in the other's life, then that means she probably makes sure that she's not too hungry when she starts on a meal. At least that's what Moriko concludes. So the slow, careful movements makes sense to her now. If she's not in a hurry to eat the food, why not take the time to be sure that the picture is "just so." Simply having an explanation for the other's actions is enough to satisfy her. As a bonus, she now understands this stranger a little bit better, making her less of a stranger overall.

Moriko generally eats only when she feels hungry, which is unfortunately often. Which means that such eating habits wouldn't work too well for her. Just like now, as she can't seem to take her eyes off of the bar. Tilting her head slightly, a bit of the saliva works it's way to the left corner of her mouth. Absently, she wipes it away.

After her question, her companion looks at her, looks at the bar and then breaks it in two. The offer surprises her a bit (she's been told a firm "Yes" on most occasions she asks that particular question). If a person says they're going to eat the food, she won't bother to ask again unless she's feeling really hungry. But here is this most generous person, almost a stranger, though now not quite, giving her food! And without her actually directly asking her if she could have some, to boot!

Eyes lighting up, Moriko's usually cautions expression vanishes, melting into a bright smile. Carefully taking the unwrapped half from the other girl, she pops the whole thing into her mouth.

An explosion of sweetness greets her taste-buds. Eyes closing in pure pleasure, Moriko chews the candy bar slowly, savoring the flavor. The caramel, chocolate and peanut combination is pure bliss! It's been a good while since she's actually eaten anything that could be considered "candy". But oh how she missed it! "Oomma..." she can't help the low hum from escaping her throat.

Swallowing the last of the bar, she opens her eyes and stares right at the other girl. The smile she gives this time is small and gentle. Her eyes, normally quite unintentionally intense, have softened. Their teal depths glimmer in the sunlight dappling her face.

"Thank you." she murmurs, her voice quite and warm.

The girl took the piece and Fue turned her attention back to the framing of the bar. She set the candy bar in the wrapper back down on the towel but it looked a bit too small. She'd broken it too far. Had she been doing this for the portfolio or for a classroom, she would have started at a few centimeters and then cut it down from there until it looked perfect. But then, if she was doing this as an assignment, then she'd have had more than one bar and could just make a bunch of splits to see which one looked best.

Fue frowned and picked the bar up. She slid it from the wrapper and took a deep breath. With a quick puff, the wrapper inflated and she carefully put the bar back in, making the whole thing look half again as long as it actually was. Then she set that down on the towel, even more carefully to avoid making it look like the back end was empty even though it was. She nodded, it looked alright but the real test would be through the camera lens.

She lifted her camera and started off with a straight on show of the tableau. There was nothing really special about it but she looked closely and made sure the lighting was up to her standards, where the shadows fell, and how the color contrast was looking. She made a few very minor tweaks in focus. She took three more photos, one from slightly above, one from the left, one from the right. These were pretty good, she liked the contrast with the sharpness of the bar and towel and even the condensation of the bottle in comparison with the faded blur of the background. Reviewing the four photos, she decided to go with the photo from the left at a slightly lower angle so she took that one final picture.

She looked at the screen and nodded. That was good. Fue deleted the other pictures. Satisfied, she picked up the energy bar and slid it out of the wrapper into her other hand and took a bite. "You're welcome." she said after chewing and swallowing. "Are you new? I don't think I've seen you before." Although that didn't really mean much. It just meant that the girl wasn't in her classes or a part of the clique of girls that Fue occasionally orbited around or was invited to spend time with.

Her thanks doesn't get an immediate reply, but Moriko doesn't mind. Or perhaps she doesn't notice. She's still caught up in the flavor of the candy, the glowing feeling of goodwill still flowing through her consciousness.

Snapping out of her focus on the candy, Moriko once again turns that focus onto her companion. Actually, it had been the crinkle of the wrapper and the sound of blown air that had gotten her attention. While she'd been enraptured by the most delicious candy bar, the other girl had been busy.

She scoots a little to the side and forward, so she's a bit more level with the girl and doesn't need to bend to the side to see what the other is doing. Placing one hand on each of her knees, she leans forward onto them a bit to get a closer look. But she takes care to not block any light, or get in the way, because she recognizes the concentration on the other girl's face. It's much like how her father would get when he's thinking of the story that he's writing, or how her mother would get when she was working on a piece... Or how she herself gets, sometimes, when she's carving. Even if she doesn't fully understand what her companion is doing, she does understand that it's important to her. She may not be very good a reading people most of the time, but she DOES know how to read that look. She's seen it often enough. Best to not get in the way.

So instead, Moriko watches. It's actually rather fascinating, really. She doesn't have much experience with cameras, but from the steady and confident moves of the other, she can tell the girl knows exactly what she's doing. She has so many questions, but she keeps her mouth shut. Don't interrupt!, she silently reminds herself. After snapping a few different pictures, her companion glances down at a screen on the back of the camera. Curiosity eating a way at her, Moriko tries to covertly take a peek, but she's not at the right angle to do so. Sighing in disappointment, she rocks a little side-to-side, restlessness taking hold of her now that nothing seems to be happening.

Then the other girl looks her way, taking a small bite out of the rest of the bar. After chewing and swallowing, she speaks.

"You're welcome."

A small smile takes hold of Moriko, for she had already forgotten those words hadn't been said earlier. Listening to the other girl's questions, she stops rocking and nods.

"Yes, I'm new. Just got here today." Pausing, she tilts her head slightly and blinks thoughtfully. In a situation like this, isn't she supposed to introduce herself? It's the polite thing to do, right? Her thoughts delay her actions, but not by too much.

"Ah, I'm Moriko. Moriko Byrne." She holds out her right hand to shake, a small yet genuine smile tilting her lips up.

After all, the best way to get Moriko to lower her walls and start to trust a person, is through her stomach.

This was exactly the kind of thing she had been going for from the very start. Sure, it wasn't a masterpiece, it was just a snack, but so few people around really seemed to appreciate the art. This girl seemed to be paying close attention. Fue didn't want to seek it out, but she did want it to be seen, she wanted people to notice her work, to see how hard she worked, how much effort each picture drew from her. The picture was the end product but people often looked at it and moved on, especially when it was an advertisement. Fue wanted to be so much more than that.

The girl had smiled at her, at the picture more likely. Fue turned to show the screen of the digital camera to Moriko. With dainty care, she put the energy bar in her mouth and took Moriko's hand for a small shake. It was only polite after all. She removed the camera. "I am Miyu Fue Shirunoe-Sudakov, umm, please feel free to call me Fue." Hopefully the girl wouldn't laugh at her name. She didn't really like it and had often wondered why her parents thought it was cute naming their daughter as a desert pun like they had.

"Welcome to the school. I hope you enjoy your time here." She said politely. "What is your major, if I'm not intruding?" She hoped she wasn't, she was out of practice for this small talk stuff. But she didn't want the girl to leave. The clothes, the slightly distant attitude, the small smile at all the pictures, it reminded Fue of her mama and that made her fill warm inside.

"If you want, you can cycle through the different pictures." she said holding out the camera again. She swiped her finger across the screen and cereal with a banana appeared. She swiped again and it was her in the mirror in the track suit. "Oh, umm, ignore that one." She swiped again quickly. The day before, she had been working with pastries, different fruit tarts and glazes on pastry shells from all kinds of angles to see which sort captured the light the best. She hadn't taken the time to clear out all these pictures from the week before yet. So after some other meals and another picture of herself, there were the molded chocolates the cooking class had done the day before that. Her camera was a repository of dozens of different foods, all captures and saved with precision and obsessive detail.

Fue finished off her half of the bar. "Do you, umm, do you like my pictures? I mean," she glanced away, "some of them are pretty bad but eventually I think I get it right and there are some good ones too." The ones she considered good generally required hours of work with tiny brushes and additives and what she called food make up. But she was a bit of a perfectionist and she was driven to satisfy herself.

"Fue? Okay!", nodding, Moriko gives a cheerful grin. "Nice to meet you, Fue." She doesn't think twice about the other girl's name. Compared to the names in the lore she was raised on, it sounds like a perfectly acceptable one to her.

Releasing the handshake, she nods her head in appreciation at her companion's welcome. "Thank you. You're the first student I've met, so far," she replies. But at the second question, her smile mutes a bit. Ah..." Moriko glances away for a moment, her gaze distant. "... my major is Japanese wood carving. The traditional kind." Blinking, she drags herself back to the present, allowing the memories that had surfaced to once again drift back down into the depths of her consciousness.

"No intrusion. Everyone at this school has a major, right? Makes sense to ask someone that." Her smile this time is a bit smaller, but it's still a friendly one. Before she can ask Fue to elaborate on her specific major, the other girl holds her camera out to her. Finally, her curiosity can be satiated!

Leaning in, she peers down at the screen. At the flick of the other girl's finger, images begin to move past. Immediately, Moriko catches onto the theme. It's almost all food... Not only that, but they all look supremely detailed... and delicious! There's a few picture of Fue herself as well, but Moriko only gives those cursory glances. No, her interest is definitely focused on the food pictures. As each image goes by, the saliva in her mouth begins to build up again. She swallows it hastily, before she starts drooling. She stares hungrily at the pictures.

"You've eaten ALL of these foods?", she asks, a bit of awe in her voice. It's the sweets that particularly impress her. They look absolutely immaculate and tempting beyond all measure. A bit of drool manages to start in the left corner of her mouth. The piece of the bar that she'd eaten had been good, but it hadn't been very filling or lasting. In fact, it seems to have only wet her appetite.

At the hesitant question directed her way, she manages to tear her eyes away from the camera to look at the other girl. Fue shifts her eyes away, her face expressing an emotion that Moriko can't quite read. Wiping the drool away with the back of her hand, she leans forward a bit, close to the other girl's face. Bright teals shining with enthusiasm, to tries to catch Fue's gaze again. "Like them? They're amazing! It makes me really want to try ALL of them!"

Even as she blurts this out, her stomach decides to add it's voice of agreement to their conversation. A rather low and long growl rumbles out. Jolting slightly, she glances down at her stomach, her expression one of mild surprise. Though she knew she was hungry, she hadn't expected such a loud sound to escape her.

A sheepish grin tilts her lips up. Running her fingers through her hair, she looks back up at Fue. "Ah, woops. Sorry about that. Guess your pictures are just too good."

"Carving sounds interesting. I've seen some pretty impressive carvings done on ice but you don't get much crossover between food and wood so I've generally not been exposed to a lot of it." Fue wasn't sure what traditional japanese wood carving was apart from what it blatantly advertised itself to be. Was there traditional french or russian wood carving as well? Wood and logs and stuff weren't generally things that she thought about. Her grandpa might know, he and grandma lived in the forest.

"When I'm older, I'm going to be a food stylist. That means I make food or take food other people make and I take a picture of it. But I have to make sure it looks really good. Probably better than it really looks, that's the advertising side of things." She looked down at the candy bar in her hand and took a bite. She chewed slowly as she thought of what to say next. Fortunately, the girl, Moriko, asked a question and it was one she could answer fairly easily.

"Most of it, yeah. Anything that looks like it's on school plates or my desk. Some of the others too. Anything that looks boring and plain." Well, she certainly thought they looked boring and plain. They didn't have that perfection that she put into her other pictures. Although somehow that perfection made them worse according to the photography teacher which still didn't make any sense to Fue. "But a lot of the other ones nobody could eat. They've been...made up. But not with like eyeshadow." She clarified.

"Some have paint, some of the meat stuff is really raw inside. There's glue on a few and quite a few have weird additives like Styrofoam or cardboard to keep their shape." Of all the reactions to her pictures, Fue hadn't expected the one she got. Moriko leaned in close and Fue nearly fell over as she leaned away. That was way too far into her personal space. But even as uncomfortable as that made her, the compliments filled Fue with pride.

"Thank you. I mean it." It was almost too much. "I mean, they really aren't that great but to be told that." She sniffed. "It means so much to me. That's all I wanted for them. I want to share food with people the only way I know how." So many hours, so many discarded experiments and wasted food that just wasn't quite good enough. It was all for this moment. The validation felt good and it was from somebody who wasn't her moms.

Fue finally lost it. "I'm so happy." she bawled. It was a far cry from the cry she'd had at her portfolio grade where the teacher had given her advice about things being too artificial and perfect. This was a good step for her, positive reinforcement when she was still a bit down and not back to one hundred percent. There was nothing like an encouraging word when you had fallen down on the climb to your goal and it just set Fue off.

It's fascinating, listening to Fue as she explains a bit about what she does. Painting food? It never even crossed Moriko's mind that something like that would even be a thing. This girl is part of a world that she has absolutely no experience in. Advertising, photography, fancy foods. They're all things that have been, at best, on the periph of Moriko's world. So listening to the other girl's words is quite interesting to her. 

But what's even more fascinating, is watching the curious movements of Fue's face. After leaning away from her, her companion suddenly starts sniffing. The tone of her voice changes, thickening a bit. Blinking in confusion, Moriko leans back a bit herself, though she's still a little close to Fue. Head tilting slightly to the side, her eyes grow big in shock when the other girl suddenly, and quite unexpectedly, starts crying!

Momentarily frozen, Moriko has no idea what to do. She's never made another girl cry before! Panicking slightly, she raises her hands before her, palms open and eyes wide. "Um, ah... sorry!" she blurts out, her tone filled with worry and guilt. She scoots closer to the other girl, shifting to be next to her instead of in front of her, and does the only thing she can think of. She leans against her, pressing her left shoulder against Fue's right shoulder. "It's okay, it's okay..." she murmurs, her voice soft and soothing, her slight Irish accent adding an almost musical lilt to her words. From one of her many pockets, she pulls out a light blue handkerchief and offers it to the other girl.

Even though Fue had said she was happy, she still feels bad for making her cry.

Fue felt like a complete idiot but she couldn't help it. Loads of emotions were just bubbling up and she had to let them all out. At least Moriko hadn't run off or abandoned her or said something cruel or made fun of her. No, instead, the other girl had come up closer and leaned in. Fue leaned back for a moment before she wrapped her arms around Moriko and buried her face into Moriko's shoulder. She wrapped her arms around Moriko and squeezed tightly. She hadn't lost it like this in years but something about Moriko reminded her of her mama and it felt ok to open up.

"I-I'm sorry." She stammered, though her voice was muffled into Moriko's shoulder. "I don't know what's come over me. I'm not normally like this." She sniffed and reached out to take the handkerchief and pulled away. Fue dabbed at her eyes. "I'm completely sorry. You must think I'm crazy or something." She sniffled and stared at the handkerchief before blowing her nose loudly into it. "I just...I have been having a really hard time lately." She sniffed as she folded up the handkerchief. "It's nice to-" she hiccuped, "hear that somebody likes my pictures." She wiped her tears with the back of her wrist. Fue hiccuped again.

"I'll uh, I'll wash this and return it to you sometime." She said holding up the soiled hankie. It was only polite. Maybe she could do something else for Moriko, after all, that had been a really weird experience to just drop on a stranger. Especially here in Japan where people tended to be a lot more stuffy and withdrawn. She kind of felt bad. And then she hiccuped.

Moriko had leaned against Fue as a form of comfort. It's what the wolfdogs back at home would do when they would comfort each other and her. Or, sometimes, they'd lean against their pack mates as a sign of closeness and companionship. This is what Moriko has known best for roughly the past year. So it's not surprising when Fue seems to lean back against her. This is expected, for it's a form of acknowledgment of the comfort given. But the lean suddenly turns in to a full blown hug and Fue's crying grows even harder.

Stiffening in surprise when she feels the other girl's arms wrap around her, Moriko shifts awkwardly in place. Does she hug her back? Is that what she's supposed to do? Fue buries her head into her shoulder, her body shaking with her sobs. The other student's arms are wrapped tightly around her own. Shuffling her arms up slightly, she raises her hands and then gently pats the other girl on her upper back, near her shoulder blades. It's the only place she can reach, due to the position she finds herself, but it's all she can think to do. She continues to speak in her soft voice, making sure her body is relaxed so as to not alert her companion to her discomfort. No point in distressing her any further. Her words fade away as the other girl begins to speak.

After a short while, Fue takes her offered handkerchief and draws back. Moriko stares at her face. Her cheeks have wet tracks running down them, though they're smeared at an odd angle. Probably from pressing her face against her shoulder. But what captures her attention, are Fue's lashes. They have some tears still clinging to them.

A thin beam of sunlight falls through the tree's leaves and strikes the moisture at just the right angle. The lashes glitter in the sunlight, the slight trembling of Fue's eyelids making them wink with the movement. This, in turn, is reflected by Fue's eyes. It gives the illusion of many stars twinkling in their depths, which deepens the brown of the other girl's irises into a warm, vibrant color. Moriko can't seem to look away.

Fue then uses the handkerchief to dab at her eyes, effectively breaking the spell. Blinking, Moriko glances away, a bit embarrassed by her intense scrutiny of her companion's eyes. A slight blush brushes her cheeks. Luckily, Fue seems preoccupied with cleaning herself up with the handkerchief. She listens quietly to Fue's words, her gaze drawn once again to the other girl when she hears the sound of a nose being blown. She nods in response to the other's words about cleaning the cloth and returning it to her later. She's not too worried about it, she has a few more packed in her luggage.

Then Fue hiccups. She'd noted the first hiccup, but hadn't thought much about it. But this second one follows right on the tail end of the other's words, giving the sentence a humorous twist. A small smile tugs Moriko's lips up in amusement. At this moment, with Fue's fluffy-looking hair stirring in the slight breeze, she can't help but notice how cute her companion is. Getting the urge to ruffle the other girl's hair, she instead settles for a soft smile that easily reaches her teal eyes.

"It's okay," she murmurs, her voice still quiet, "I don't mind."

The contact had been comforting, and soothing words were a blessing when you were having trouble managing your own emotions. Fue greatly appreciated the patience and kindness that Morkio was showing her. Even the reassuring pats on the back were a sort of stbility that she could latch onto. At least, if there was any silver lining to this cloud, Fue had lost control next to somebody incredibly kind.

Fue took a slow, deep breath in and hiccuped again. Hiccups were never fun but they always seemed to hit when you least wanted them too. It was insidious and now that she was trying to collect herself and her dignity, these little silly noises were just getting in the way. "I really am sorry. I don't mean to dump all this personal drama stuff on you so suddenly, you being new and all, yhou should be having fun and stuff in the school. Not taking care of some dumb crybaby." Fue said though interrupted by the occasional hiccup.

With some care, she folded up the hankie and put it into one of the side pockets of her bag. She was tempted to pull out her compact but it wasn't like she'd been wearing anything to get ruined by the tears and seeing her face probably looking all bloated and crusty and awful was going to do nothing to improve her mood. "I promise I'll make it up to you somehow. I can't cook but I can introduce you to a lot of the girls in the cooking classes or take some pictures if you need them of anything." She added on hastily. "Pictures are really all I know how to do well."

Fue lightly scratched at the back of her neck. Hopefully that would be enough,, both for the girl and to soothe her own growing guilt at being such a bad introductory example to the school. After all, now that she had been drafted into the year book club thing there was a new responsibility or something. She didn't know yet, she hadn't been to a meeting since the professor had dragged an acceptance out of her. But whatever that new responsibility might entail, it was probably the opposite of making new students uncomfortable. Fue tried to smile and said "You're very kind, I'm sure you'll make lots of friends here at Fukui."

Confusion flashes through Moriko as she realizes her thoughts and emotions about the other girl. Cute? Feeling the urge to intentionally touch another person before they touch her (without the need to give/receive comfort)? What is this odd feeling? She's distracted from her thoughts, though, when Fue speaks. Returning her full attention to the other girl, she listens.

Moriko shrugs at the having fun at school comment. She'd only just arrived today, so she really doesn't know what there is around the area to have fun with. In fact, she doesn't know the layout of the school at all, having yet to fully explore it. But at the dumb crybaby comment, she frowns.

Tilting her head slightly to the side, she gazes at Fue. "You're not dumb," she states clearly and without reservation. She's met a few rather unintelligent people in her life, and in Moriko's mind, Fue doesn't fit into that category at all.

Fue's next words surprise her. Even if she doesn't quite understand why the other girl wishes repay her, she simply nods in acceptance. She isn't about to argue over something like that. Especially when her companion has only just gotten over her rather emotional outburst from just moments before. Besides, this could be an opportunity to maybe get to know the girl better, along with the school.

Eyes lighting up at the mention of food, Moriko's nod this time is more enthusiastic. "Food is good!", she murmurs, her excitement clear. "Even if you can't show me the cooking class, maybe you can show me where I can get food?" she asks, her voice hopeful. Vending machine locations, cafeteria location, places to buy snacks, they're all things she wishes to know intimately. She briefly wonders what the cafeteria hours are. Maybe they'll be open for late night snacks? Her smile turns a bit wistful as she imagines the possibilities.

Her dreamy line of thought is broken when Fue mentions her picture taking skills. Moriko's expression turns thoughtful. "Don't know much about photography," she says regretfully. "But if I ever need help with that, I know who to ask." She nods in affirmation of her words.

At the mention of friends, all she does is shrugs. She doesn't really think she'll make all that many friends. She's okay with one on one conversations, for the most part. This is because all she needs to focus on is one person, one conversation. But increase the number of people, or if she's in an environment where there's several conversations going on at once, she'll often lose track of what they're talking about. Also, crowded areas make her supremely nervous. Just thinking about it makes her frown in worry.

Uneasily, she rakes the fingers of her left hand through her hair and shifts her gaze downward to Fue's hands. "Maybe," she responds, her voice slightly muted by her thoughts.

At some point during this rather frank exchange of thanks, Fue's hiccups had disappeared which was a welcome relief, though she worried that if she thought about it for too long, they would rise back up like some kind of undercooked food and make her regret it. She just hoped that there'd be no more sudden bursts of crying or whatever that could set them off again, or that she hadn't passed them on to Moriko, she'd heard somewhere that hiccups could be contagious like yawns. It was a small thing but she did tend to worry about the small things just as much as the big things, her scales were a bit odd.

"Maybe not dumb, just being silly." Fue replied. She smiled at Moriko as she saw and heard the excitement grow in the other girl. "Yeah, I can show you the cafeteria and stuff, there are a few snack machines scattered around in some of the buildings too. A lot of the girls will walk or ride into town to get snacks to keep in their rooms when the cafeteria closes at night though. The cafeteria isn't always open, but since we all tend to have really varying class schedules, you can generally get at least something throughout the day. Oh but if you make friends with the cooking and baking students, they tend to have free reign in the home ex classrooms so there's almost always something cooking in there." She looked down at her camera.

"Most of them know me." Well, that wasn't entirely true. She often offered to take pictures of their stuff and might provide the occasional coloring suggestion. But while most of them knew her by sight, they probably didn't know her first name, actually, they probably dindn't know her last name either. She wasn't exactly sociable, she just tried to help where she could. She could count the number of friends she had at the school on one hand, and Nurse Estelle had seemed to think that they weren't exactly real friends. Perhaps her own experience was what keyed her toward Moriko's change of mood.

"Unless you prefer being on your own." Fue said quickly. "I don't like a bunch of people watching me while I take pictures so I get it." She shrugged. "But if you have a bunch of friends then sometimes they'll do their own thing and you can just fade into the background and they're like a shield." This was not healthy advice but it was how Fue behaved in her group of friends. "It's like being alone and people don't judge you for it."

Blinking in surprise at Fue's words, Moriko returns her gaze to the other girl's face. "Ah, well..." Her hands rest in the crossed legs of her lap. She fidgets with her fingers a bit, trying to figure out how to word what she wants to say. "It's not like I want to be alone. I just..." she pauses, and then leans back on her hands. Tipping her head back, she looks up into the tree's leaves. The sunlight that breaks through the gaps dots her face. Each spot is a welcoming warmth, inviting and comforting all at once. A slight breeze tugs at her hair, teasing it into an unruly mess. Moriko visibly relaxes, the slight tension that had built in her shoulders loosening up. A soft sigh slips from between her lips. Closing her eyes, she stays in that position and continues what she was saying.

"I'm not used to being around lots of people. It makes me nervous, if there's too much going on at once." The palms of her hands press firmly into the soft soil, the grass tickling her wrists. It's so nice, to simply be outside in the fresh air. Opening her eyes, she tilts her heads to the side and peers quietly at Fue. Her glance is a sideways one, peeking out from the corners of her eyes. Much different from her usual direct stare.

"I'm better with one on one interactions. Like with now."

A small smile tilts her lips up, her whole posture no longer tense. Moriko directs her contentment towards Fue, her smile easily reaching her eyes. The movement of the breeze tosses the leaves about, the light and shadow playing teasingly about her face. The teal of her eyes seems to dance, at one moment filled with an unknown depth, and at the next sparkling with an open brightness.